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New Century Ordinance Allows Council To Set Their Salaries, Pay For Insurance
November 5, 2009
The Town of Century is considering an ordinance that lets the town council set their salaries and allows them reimburse council members for their individual health insurance policies.
The council chose to no longer offer health insurance directly to council members after discovering that it would cost about $60,000 per year to insure the two council members that opted for the town’s insurance plan.
Instead, the council decided to reimburse council members for their individual health plans. An ordinance to be considered by the council on November 16 allows the council to do just that.
The ordinance also allows the council to legal leeway to set its own salaries now and in the future.
Comments
7 Responses to “New Century Ordinance Allows Council To Set Their Salaries, Pay For Insurance”
It was provided for all council member. Three of the council members chose to use their own, with medicare VA or job they have else where.Not ever one there can get those options.
Why were only two council members provided this benefit ?
The family members are NOT covered for the council members, by their choosing. City employees families are covered 77% by the town. It would have made the each employee covered would cost the town more if the council were covered. It’s not just the councils that would go up. Also if they went cobra”council” it would be 60,000 a year, for two years.
You don’t have to tell me that health insurance is going up,Trish. I pay $689 a month for mine. And I ASSUME that if the families of the council members were not covered, the cost would not be quite $60,000 for two individuals. And there don’t seem to be many “whole Facts” available right now.
I understand perfectly what’s happening. You are correct, insurance companies do have us over a barrel. I shopped for a policy last year and the best I could do was an 80% par with a $5000 deductible before they paid anything. Yes that’s right five thousand. And I’m not disabled, just over 50.
So my point is why do people prefer these vultures with the insurance companies over a possible public option insurance plan.
The problem we have is that many of our politicians (and quite a few people who rail against the “government in my insurance” are already in government plans. They just don’t want the rest of us in one. It’s always too expensive for everyone else to be covered but not for “me”. My question, if you read my initial message, was how many of the council members, who are covered by tax dollars, are opposed to others having a similar opportunity?
I also said in my post that I thought that they “should” have coverage. So it appears that we are in perfect agreement. I assume.
Trish, health insurance is expensive. I pay $350 a month for mine and I am 50. What I question is why are they using this time to grant to themselves “legal leeway” to set their own salaries now and IN THE FUTURE. Also, the council members that are not receiving city provided insurance would also receive the “insurance money” according to another news source.
Don’t ASSUME anything. Get the whole facts. Health Insurance was part of the package when individuals were elected. FACT not FICTION–Every time a business renews their coverage with the insurance companies the costs goes up. The town was not able to renew the insurance coverage they had with BCBS so they had to go with the next lowest priced company that would cover them. Because the town has a small number of employees the insurance is higher. There is a cap on the number of employees covered and the town was over the cap by two. My understanding is that they thought it was easier to cut the two council members and save money by reimbursing them so they could pay for individual coverage.
I realize the details will make your eyes glaze over but people need to try to understand what is actually happening. Insurance companies have us over a barrel. If you are over the age of 40 and have tried to get health insurance on your own you should know how expensive it is. If you are under the age of 40 then try to stay young and healthy, otherwise you are out of luck.
Well….this is fascinating. $60,000 per year to cover two individuals (and families, I assume). So the council votes to reimburse themselves for coverage. The article does not mention how much the members will be allowed to have reimbursed, so we can only speculate.
I do think the council members should have coverage but wonder what their position is on others being covered by “a government program”. Isn’t that what this is? It’ll probably just cost a bit more on a per person basis.